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Star Blazers Teaser: Japanese Anime to Live-Action Film

I remember growing up as a kid in the 80’s and absolutely loving Japanese animation. Shows like Voltron, Robotech and TranzorZ, with his partner Aphrodite and her boobie missile 1 and boobie missile 2, were among some of my favorites to watch. I guess my tastes changed as I got older, because the newer anime from the '90s on just didn’t appeal to me very much.

I’m not an expert in Japanese anime by any means and I really only followed the mainstream stuff, so when the teaser trailer for the cartoon Space Battleship Yamato (known as Star Blazers in the U.S.) hit the web and instantly picked up steam in the movie blog world, I was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about. After watching the 32 second teaser, I was left thinking, “Did I miss something?”

If you are like me and not familiar with Space Battleship Yamato, then here is a quick recap of the series: Like most Japanese anime, Space Battleship Yamato skewed more adult, including profanity, drinking, and sexual references. However, most if not all of that was removed and/or toned down for the American version of the show, Star Blazers. The story revolves around a space battleship built from the World War II remains of the battleship Yamato and how the captain (who is apparently drunk the majority of the time) and crew fight to save the planet from the evil Gamilon.

Watch the teaser below and let us know what you think.

Like I said previously, I was left feeling somewhat underwhelmed by that teaser. The shots they choose to include really don’t give a viewer with no knowledge of the show a chance to understand what is going on, and I’m still scratching my head at the choice of music at the end.

However, I must give director Takashi Yamazaki - who also directed Returner - complete credit for sticking to miniatures and practical effects. Except for the shot of the ship firing all of its lasers at once, I didn’t see any CGI in the teaser. Maybe it was a budget issue and CGI was just too expensive? Regardless, I’m glad to see someone finally doing a space movie that isn’t overly wrought with CGI effects.

Japanese pop star Takuya Kimura (Howl’s Moving Castle) plays the main male character Sasumu Kodai and actress Koyuki plays the main female lead, although I couldn’t locate her character’s name anywhere.

What did you think of the teaser and are you more familiar with the Star Blazers series than I am?

Just so you guys didn’t think I was making up the Aphrodite Boobie Missiles, here’s an image for you.